- China: Court sentences founder of troubled property developer Evergrande to life in prison
Source: NBC News
“Chinese property developer Hui Ka Yan, founder of the Evergrande real estate group, has been sentenced to life in prison and the companies fined a total of $2.3 billion, a court in the southern city of Shenzhen said Thursday. The decision marks a milestone in Evergrande’s saga after it collapsed with more than $300 billion in liabilities when Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate industry in 2020. That triggered a crunch among many developers and brought on a downturn in the property market that has weighed on the broader economy ever since. The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court convicted Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, and Evergrande of engaging in large-scale financial fraud in inflating the group’s assets and concealing its liabilities.” (08/20/26)
- Publisher of US military newspaper resigns over differences with regime
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, a newspaper focused on the United States military, has resigned amid what he described as disagreements with the Defense Department‘s leadership. Max D Lederer Jr announced his retirement in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. The memo suggested that Lederer clashed with the administration of President Donald Trump over government efforts to seek greater editorial control over the publication, The Associated Press reported. … Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accused the publication of promoting ‘woke distractions’. The Trump administration has also slammed the outlet for bringing attention to poor conditions and declining morale on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, involved in the war on Iran. Founded in 1861, Stars and Stripes has been an institution in the US military for well over a century.” (08/20/26)
- US Regime’s Debt Hits $40 Trillion as Politicians’ Borrowing Binge Continues
Source: New York Times
“[The US government’s] gross national debt topped $40 trillion for the first time on Wednesday, an ominous milestone for an economy that sits on a shaky fiscal foundation after decades of borrowing to pay for the rising costs of the military, social safety net programs and President Trump’s tax cuts. This year alone, the United States [government] is on track to borrow more than $2 trillion to help pay for its obligations, including spending on the war in Iran and the sweeping tax cuts that Republicans enacted in 2025. Soaring interest payments to investors who have purchased America’s debt now make up about half of that red ink, pushing the United States [government] into a deeper financial hole.” [editor’s note: A tax cut doesn’t have to be “paid for,” and unless spending is being cut, taxes aren’t being cut — payment of the taxes, with interest, is just being deferred – TLK] (08/19/26)
- Ukraine: Russian missile barrage across Kyiv kills at least 12 and wounds 33
Source: NBC News
“A Russian missile barrage overnight Thursday killed at least 12 people in Kyiv as explosions echoed across Ukraine’s capital throughout the night, local authorities said. At least 33 people were wounded, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Service. The air raid alert remained active into the early morning hours Thursday. … Russia has intensified ballistic missile attacks on the capital to wear down Kyiv’s air defense stocks. Kyiv has limited systems capable of intercepting ballistic threats, while supplies of missiles for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems remain chronically constrained. … Ukraine, meanwhile, has intensified its own campaign of long-range strikes against weapons depots, military facilities and other strategic targets deep inside Russian territory, seeking to degrade Moscow’s ability to sustain its attacks on Ukrainian cities.” (08/20/26)
- Central African Republic: More than 100 dead after gold mine collapses
Source: The Guardian [UK]
“More than 100 people have died after an artisanal goldmine at a small village in western Central African Republic (CAR) caved in due to a landslide, local officials and aid workers said on Wednesday. The landslide happened on Tuesday afternoon in the village of Zamboye, about 50km (31 miles) from the town of Baboua and close to the border of Cameroon. Footage on social media appeared to show an avalanche of sand descend on a group of people, likely the miners, and cover them. … the incident is believed to have been caused by “’he collapse of several underground tunnels in which miners were operating’.” (08/19/26)
- Federal judge notices that Biden-era “ghost gun” restrictions are unconstitutional
Source: The Hill
“A federal judge in Texas ruled Monday that a Biden administration-era rule regulating untraceable ‘ghost guns’ is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor held that the 2022 measure, which required that self-assembled guns be treated like any other firearm, conflicts with the nation’s ‘historical tradition’ of personal gunsmithing and self-manufacture of firearms.’The Court cannot conclude that the Final Rule’s imposition of ambiguous and far-reaching regulations, which would restrict access to component parts thereby inhibiting home gunsmithing, comports with the Second Amendment,’ O’Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote. He also determined the rule was unconstitutionally vague in violation of the Due Process Clause.” (08/19/26)
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/6037757-biden-ghost-gun-rule-unconstitutional/
- US regime conducting stealth operation to transport oil through Hormuz
Source: Axios
“The U.S. military has quietly established a shipping corridor in and out of the Strait of Hormuz to transport millions of barrels of oil each day — a notable success even as the broader war remains at a stalemate, two U.S. officials told Axios. Under the operation, which has been underway for the last several weeks, 15–20 tankers have entered and exited the strait each night through a southern channel along the coast of Oman. About 10 million barrels of oil a day — roughly half the pre-war volume — are being transported out of the strait and injected into the global energy market, the officials said.” (08/19/26)
- TX: Judge removed from track meet stabbing case as defendant Karmelo Anthony seeks a new trial
Source: Associated Press
“The judge in the case of a Texas teenager convicted of fatally stabbing a 17-year-old athlete at a high school track meet was ordered removed Wednesday, as the defendant seeks a new trial in a case that drew national attention. Karmelo Anthony, now 19, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison after a suburban Dallas jury in June rejected his claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year. … A new judge will be assigned for Thursday’s hearing on Anthony’s request for a retrial. Anthony’s legal team argued Wednesday that a retrial is needed in part because [District Judge John] Roach enforced overly strict courtroom rules and gave an interview after the trial was over.” (08/19/26)
- Nord Stream: Second suspect arrested over pipeline blasts
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“A second suspect has been arrested in relation to the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in 2022, German prosecutors said on Wednesday. Croatian police, acting on a European arrest warrant, detained a Ukrainian national in Pula. ‘The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office had Ukrainian Vladimir Z. arrested in Pula (Croatia) by local police forces,’ prosecutors said. They said that the man, a trained scuba diver, ‘is strongly suspected of jointly causing explosions.’ The prosecutors said they were pursuing the man’s extradition from Croatia. He is reported to have previously been detained in Poland in September 2025 but was released after an extradition request from Germany was turned down. Another suspect, also a Ukrainian national, was arrested in Italy last year.” (08/19/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/nord-stream-second-suspect-arrested-croatia/a-78427413
- Israel: Military orders criminal investigations into killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and 15 others in Gaza
Source: CBS News
“The Israeli military has ordered a criminal investigation into the killing by its forces of 5-year-old Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl whose death in Gaza sparked international outrage after a recording of her final, heart-wrenching moments speaking to paramedics was heard around the world. In a statement Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces acknowledged for the first time that troops opened fire on the vehicle carrying Rajab’s family in January 2024, having previously said no forces were in the area at the time. … The military said it was also ordering a criminal investigation into the March 2025 killing of 15 Gazans, including rescue workers. The investigations will be conducted by Israeli military police.” (08/19/26)
- CT: Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut’s Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn. ‘He would stuff as much bread as he could … in his clothing’, Banevicius said, adding: ‘Everyone kind of turned a blind eye to it because they knew he was just feeding the birds’. Smith was a young petty criminal when he was accused in 1949 of the murder of Grover Hart, a night watchman at a Connecticut yacht club.” (08/19/26)
- Libertarian Party: Judicial Committee Upholds New Hampshire Disaffiliation
Source: Third Party Watch
“After deliberation in executive session, the Judicial Committee rose at 9:57PM on August 17, 2026 (last night) to consider the question in the matter of the disaffiliation of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. The vote was conducted as a roll call vote. Shall the National Committee’s revocation of affiliate party status of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire be affirmed, or shall the Judicial Committee order reinstatement of the affiliate party? The vote was 7-0-0 to affirm the decision of the LNC. … All written opinions are due to be published no later than Sept 11, 2026.” (08/18/26)
- SC: National security question trips up Graham in debate
Source: SFGate
“Sen. Darline Graham stumbled in a Tuesday night debate over an elementary question about foreign policy, a signature issue of her late brother. It was a high-profile misstep a week before she faces a runoff election in her bid to hold onto the South Carolina seat to which she was appointed last month. Graham, a political novice, was asked whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea — a longstanding contention of both Democratic and Republican administrations. She struggled to answer before admitting ‘national security is not my thing’. ‘I’m not that informed on national security,’ she added. Her rival in next week’s runoff for the GOP nomination, Rep. Ralph Norman, suggested the answer showed Graham was unqualified for the role. ” (08/19/26)
- France: Regime expels two Iranian diplomats in escalating row with Tehran
Source: Politico
“France will expel two Iranian diplomats after Tehran’s security services detained and interrogated two French Embassy staffers last month, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced Tuesday evening. The row dates back to July 19, when two French Embassy employees in Tehran — one of them the cultural attaché — were questioned for several hours and ‘beaten,’ according to Barrot. Paris accused Iranian security services of carrying out a ‘premeditated and deliberate’ act of intimidation in ‘flagrant violation’ of diplomatic protections, summoning Iran’s chargé d’affaires two days later. … Tehran disputes that account. Iran’s foreign ministry says the French diplomats violated the Vienna Convention through activities it considers interference in Iranian affairs and has since declared both persona non grata, barring them from returning to Iran after they left the country.” (08/19/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/france-expels-2-iranian-diplomats-in-escalating-row-with-tehran/
- Bolivia: Regime Arrests “MAGA’s Man in LatAm” for Attempted Assassination
Source: Common Dreams
“Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentine political operative who has worked on right-wing campaigns across Latin America, was arrested in Bolivia this week in connection with the attempted murder of a woman with whom he reportedly had a romantic relationship. Cerimedo was arrested Tuesday morning at Viru Viru Airport after an attack on Bolivian lawyer and activist Nadia Beller. Video footage circulating online shows two people dressed as delivery workers approaching Beller outside of a hotel in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and shooting her at close range. The 33-year-old was taken to a hospital and survived. Cerimedo has connections to Argentina’s President Javier Milei, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz. As Drop Site News pointed out, he is business partners with President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale, and The Economist has called him ‘MAGA’s man in LatAm’ for ‘forging close ties’ to the US leader’s right-wing movement.” (08/19/26)
- Amazon to expand drone service to nearly 500 cities after targeting 1 million deliveries this year
Source: CNBC
“Amazon said Wednesday it plans to offer drone deliveries in nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of the year, a sign of momentum for a project that’s been slow to develop since founder Jeff Bezos first laid out his vision for the service almost 13 years ago. The planned expansion for Prime Air would represent a sixfold increase from its current footprint, the company said in a blog post. Amazon’s latest update comes five months after David Carbon, vice president of Prime Air, spoke confidently about the program and laid out ambitious growth plans in an internal all-hands meeting, according to a recording obtained by CNBC. Carbon projected at the time that Prime Air will make 1 million deliveries this year, and said Amazon has the “’ighest demand drone delivery service in the industry.'” (08/19/26)
- North Korea shrugs off Trump’s scaled-back drills with South Korea, saying it changes nothing
Source: SFGate
“North Korea said Wednesday that a U.S. decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea does not change what it sees as the provocative nature of the drills, dampening hopes for an early resumption of diplomacy between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump. The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made the comments Wednesday night in her country’s first reaction to Trump’s moves to drastically cut back the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills. ‘We think it’s not worth making comments on that and we have no interest in it at all,’ Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. ‘The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.'” (08/19/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/south-korea-says-the-south-korean-and-us-22393947.php
- US Appeals Court Blocks ICE Gang Abductions Near Some Houses of Worship
Source: US News & World Report
“A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld an order limiting federal immigration enforcement at eight houses of worship affiliated with three faith groups, saying religious activities at the sites could be hindered by the operations. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with eight houses of worship from the Quaker, Sikh, and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship traditions in finding that a policy President Donald Trump’s administration adopted likely violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The case is one of a number of similar legal challenges that religious groups have filed nationally. The Trump administration had argued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s policy did not prevent the plaintiffs from conducting worship or ministry services, and said the plaintiffs could not establish it would lead immigrants to choose to not attend their religious services.” (08/18/26)
- Bill boosting NYC teaching assistants’ pay by $10K becomes law, without mayor’s signature
Source: New York Post
“A bill to boost New York City teaching assistants’ pay by $10,000 has become law despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani opting not to sign it — and it could still be challenged in court. The law giving raises to paraprofessionals went into effect Wednesday after Mamdani did not take official action, the United Federation of Teachers union, announced. The powerful teachers’ union had backed the ‘Respect for Paraprofessionals’ bill, which the City Council passed unanimously last month. ‘Our paraprofessionals made this happen,’ UFT President Mike Mulgrew said. ‘We thank Council Speaker Julie Menin, Labor Chair Carmen De La Rosa and the Council members who fought so hard to get this law passed and address a long-standing injustice’. But Mulgrew cautioned that Mamdani could decide to challenge the legislation in court, claiming it violates labor law governing collective bargaining.” (08/19/26)
- Ebola cases in Congo exceed 5,000, regime data shows
Source: Reuters
“The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo now exceeds 5,000, government data showed late on Tuesday, as health officials warn that response efforts are failing to contain the deadly disease. Congo’s 17th Ebola epidemic turned into the biggest in the country’s history in terms of number of cases in late July and over the weekend the death toll hit 2,378, the public health institute said, surpassing the previous worst outbreak in 2018-2020. The institute has so far logged 5,021 cases, according to its latest situation report, making it the second-worst outbreak globally, behind only the 2014 to 2016 epidemic in West Africa in both infections and deaths.” (08/19/26)
- First, Do Less Harm.
Source: Liberalism.org
by David Mitchell“The idea of harm reduction begins with a realistic premise: people sometimes continue risky behavior despite prohibition, stigma, or advice to stop. Harm reduction policies attempt the opposite of a prohibition or abstinence approach. Harm reduction policies are based on the belief that lives can be saved by helping people move from more dangerous choices to less dangerous ones. Fentanyl test strips, vaping, and even ordinary automobile driving all demonstrate the promise of this approach and its limits. Harm reduction works best when the relative risks are clear, people can act on the information or substitute offered, and the intervention complements rather than replaces prevention and treatment. The lives saved, and the other harms prevented, extend both to those who’ve undertaken the risky behaviors and to nonparticipant bystanders.” (08/19/26)
- Here’s Trump’s Problem With Iran
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“The situation in Iran is going to hurt Republicans in the fall. Not because the majority of the American people want Iran to get a nuclear weapon or because Democrats in the media are lying about things, but it’s going to hurt Republicans because it is a major distraction from the things average voters care about. President Donald Trump either doesn’t see that or does not care. Let me start by saying I firmly believe the world would be a better place without the Islamic Republic of Iran in it. They have been killing Americans and innocent civilians around the world for half a century, so wiping them out is something I fully support. The problem is we don’t have the will to actually do that. We have the ability and the technology, but the will matters more than anything else, and it just isn’t there.” (08/20/26)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2026/08/20/heres-trumps-problem-with-iran-n2681542
- America’s Authoritarian Fantasies
Source: The Next Move
by Evan Gottesman“Earlier this year, Donald Trump made some additions to the White House Palm Room: two photos of himself with autocratic leaders; one alongside Xi Jinping, the other with Vladimir Putin. The picture of the president with Putin, a memento from the Russian dictator’s 2025 Alaska visit, was placed above a photograph of Trump’s own granddaughter. Trump has since taken down the picture of his grandkid, but Putin is still there. Trump’s admiration for foreign authoritarians is shared by Hasan Piker, the influential political streamer who’s staged frequent interventions in Democratic primaries. Piker has interviewed numerous successful primary candidates on his stream, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, Chris Rabb, and Abdul El-Sayed. He praises Mao Zedong as one of the greats and dresses like him too. Piker even has a Chinese flag positioned prominently in the background of many of his streams.” (08/19/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/americas-authoritarian-fantasies
- What Did Fauci Mean by “Game On?”
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker“The release of the Fauci diaries has filled in some missing pieces. They help elucidate how the years of hell unfolded in Fauci’s own mind. Working with military intelligence and pharmaceutical companies, Fauci and his colleagues eventually hatched an audacious plan to delay natural immunity for a full ten months as they awaited both the November election and the viable release of the injectable product called a vaccine – all in the hope that it would be given credit for fixing the problem they created in the first place. This scheme, however, was Fauci’s personal Plan B. Plan A is revealed in the diaries. It was to bury the existence and spread of the virus in question within a broader fabric of a bad flu season.” (08/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/what-did-fauci-mean-by-game-on/
- MMT: A Political Movement without Serious Defenders
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Per Bylund“[M]ost, if not all, MMTers who have commented on my article have failed to read it as it was written. They all choose to read it as an Austrian attack on MMT rather than an assessment of a specific argument on its own merits. For this reason, they can attack it as flawed based on my being an Austrian economist rather than the actual arguments made in it. In a similar vein, Marxists could dismiss Böhm-Bawerk’s critique of Marx’s economics based solely on the fact that he was Austrian—regardless of what he said. Needless to say, this is highly unscholarly and unserious.” (08/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/mmt-political-movement-without-serious-defenders
- Liberia Joins Trump’s “Third-Country Deportation” Network
Source: The American Prospect
by Gillian Brockell“An Immigration and Customs Enforcement charter flight landed in Liberia Thursday, likely carrying immigrants with no ties to the country, marking Liberia’s entrance into the Trump administration’s network of countries taking so-called third-country nationals. Liberia announced Tuesday it would accept up to 1,200 third-country nationals from the U.S. over the next year, starting with a group of 20 people scheduled to arrive Thursday. It described the arrangement, which will include deported people from countries in Africa and the Western Hemisphere, as a ‘humanitarian’ gesture in line with its history as a refuge for formerly enslaved Black Americans. The ICE charter flight believed to be carrying the immigrants was operated by Eastern Airlines and landed in the capital city of Monrovia on Thursday after leaving the ICE detention hub in Alexandria, Louisiana, on Wednesday night, flight data shows.” (08/20/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/20/liberia-joins-trumps-third-country-deportation-network/
- A Scandal’s Arc
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“When did you first hear the story of Jason Arday? In 2023, Mr. Arday became something of a public sensation in Great Britain, where his claims to being autistic, mute till age 11, and illiterate till 18 made a striking rag-to-riches/up-from-racism story upon his appointment as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge. The youngest Black professor at that institution ever. … a month ago, philosopher Nathan Cofnas published his exposé, which began with a litany of Arday’s autobiographical whoppers, not including the one I heard most bandied-about: that at age 7 the young Jason had been interviewed for the famous documentary Seven Up! — a glaring fib because the movie came out 21 years before Prof. Arday was born. … Jason Arday was found dead in his apartment. Suicide? That’s what many surmise, but police have only said his death was ‘unexpected but is not believed to be suspicious.'” (08/19/26)
- Inflation Is the State’s Contraceptive
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Angelo Monaco“From a pure free-market, Austrian, and public choice perspective, the long-term demographic decline of the native-born population is not an accidental social phenomenon. It is the predictable consequence of government growth, fiscal dominance, and irresponsible monetary expansion. When state spending exceeds tax revenues, the resulting deficits, inflation, and market distortions create structural disincentives that make multi-decade capital commitments—such as having and raising children—increasingly irrational for economic actors. From a strict market perspective, the declining birth rate of the domestic population is an unintended structural feedback loop of state expansion.” (08/19/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/inflation-is-the-states-contraceptive
- Can Antitrust Regulators Learn to Trust Consumers?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Tirzah Duren“Antitrust enforcement should preserve competition and respect consumer choice, not restrict both in pursuit of vague political goals.” (08/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/can-antitrust-regulators-learn-to-trust-consumers/
- AI data center opponents get water use argument all wrong
Source: USA Today
by Dace Potas“Data centers, the gigantic buildings that house the computing power behind the artificial intelligence boom, are wildly unpopular. A recent Gallup poll found that 7 in 10 Americans oppose one being built in their area. Most of those objections don’t hold up. In town after town, data centers have delivered real benefits to the communities willing to host them. Local officials should be welcoming these projects, not passing laws to keep them out.” (08/19/26)
- Actions more important than words
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“To discover who someone is, you have to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. Words are cheap, and lies come easy. This goes triple for government. A government that talks about your safety but does things that will make you less safe is not on your side.” (08/19/26)
- Trump’s Dictator Envy Is Once Again on Display in Tiff with South Korea
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“President Donald Trump’s decision to ‘substantially reduce’ joint military exercises between the armed forces of the United States and those of South Korea captures the distilled essence of the nation’s current chief executive in its combination of petulance and affection for autocrats. On the one hand, he wants to punish our allies in the Republic of Korea for withholding support for the U.S. war with Iran. Especially, though, he wants to avoid offending the communist dictator of North Korea by training alongside our democratic and relatively free allies on the Korean peninsula. … Unfortunately, Trump has a history of turning against our friends and maintaining a soft spot for those hostile to American values.” (08/19/26)
- Prediction markets at odds with US mood on gambling
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Public acceptance of gambling has fallen among Americans, a shift best illustrated by the number of recent victories by states to curb the burgeoning industry of prediction markets, the practice of wagering on the outcomes of future events. Last week, for example, a judge in Washington state cited the online platform Kalshi for deceptive marketing of ‘illegal gambling activities’. The company is now blocked from offering ‘event contracts’ to consumers who wager on predictions in ‘sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, tech and science’. The ruling was pretty easy, as the state defines gambling as ‘staking or risking something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under the person’s control or influence’. It follows other successful efforts in several states against operators of prediction markets.” (08/18/26)
- What Will Come of Trump’s Radical Remaking of the Presidency?
Source: The UnPopulist
by Francis Fukuyama“As we move toward the end of the Trump era, we need to reckon with the changes his administration has wrought in the American system of government. The most significant is the enormous concentration of power, not just in the executive branch as a whole, but in the office of the president. Any successor administration, Republican or Democratic, will inherit these powers, and will have to decide how it wants to define the limits of executive authority in the future.” (08/19/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/what-will-come-of-trumps-radical
- Americans Don’t Deserve Liberty or Safety
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Benjamin Franklin pointed out a truth that should be highly discomforting to 21st-century Americans: ‘Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.’ Why discomforting? Because that’s exactly what both 20th-century and 21st-century Americans have done.” (08/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/08/19/americans-dont-deserve-liberty-or-safety/
- Today In Dystopia: “We Have Cameras Everywhere In That Town”
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Today in dystopia, police have been wrongfully arresting people based on faulty information from AI-assisted Flock surveillance footage instead of actually investigating the evidence of the crime. In an article titled ‘She Spent 7 Months in Legal Hell After Cops Used Flock Surveillance To Identify the Wrong Car’, Reason Magazine documents multiple instances of innocent people having their lives upended in legal battles because police slammed them with charges based on incorrect Flock camera data which could have easily been ruled out by some basic verification. … Reason shared a police body cam video of a cop confidently handing a court summons to a woman for package theft, telling her and her husband that it was ‘100 percent certain’ she was guilty because Flock surveillance had her on camera committing the crime.” (08/19/26)
- Bisonomics
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by Brian Yablonski“Private bison ranchers turned a symbol of the American West into one of conservation’s greatest success stories.” (08/19/26)
- Escaping the Educational Industrial Complex
Source: American Greatness
by Larry Sand“The recently released EdChoice ‘Schooling in America’ survey finds that 56 percent of parents believe K-12 education is on the wrong track. Indeed, too many traditional American public schools are failing to fulfill their role. Parental unhappiness is certainly understandable, given that the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), aka the ‘Nation’s Report Card’, showed that in 2024, 12th-grade students scored their lowest in reading and math in decades. In math, 45 percent of high school seniors scored ‘below basic,’ the lowest level since 2005. In reading, 32 percent scored ‘below basic’, the lowest level since the exam’s inception in 1992. Among 8th-graders, 38 percent scored ‘below basic’ in science, meaning they couldn’t recognize basic facts, such as the fact that plants need sunlight to grow.” (08/19/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/08/19/escaping-the-educational-industrial-complex/
- John Hinckley Jr., Assassination Chic, and the Troubling Legacy of the Insanity Defense
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley“As Hinckley returns to the spotlight, his release raises questions about justice and the consequences of political violence.” (08/19/26)
- Progressives [sic] Are Winning Because What They Support Is Extremely Popular [sic]
Source: The Guardian
by US Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT)“The media pundits have written article after article desperately trying to understand why progressive candidates, despite being heavily outspent, keep defeating establishment Democrats in primaries around the country. Well, the answer is not complicated. Whether it is a corrupt campaign finance system, unprecedented income and wealth inequality, a broken and wildly expensive healthcare system, the enormous threats posed by AI or an immoral and destructive foreign policy, progressives are talking about the real issues facing working families. And they are providing real solutions. Establishment Democrats are not.” (08/19/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/19/poll-progressive-candidates-election-economy
- Atlas Shrugged and Interventionism
Source: EconLog
by Leonidas Zelmanovitz“In 1988, when I was 27 years old, I read Ayn Rand for the first time. It was her novel Atlas Shrugged, in its just-released Portuguese edition. At that time, I already considered myself a sort of classical liberal, but my superficial knowledge of political philosophy, among many other gaps in my education, made my convictions not very convincing. It was only after reading her that I gained the libertarian worldview I more or less hold to this day. Mind you, I was already in business and volunteering in the classical liberal movement in Brazil, but that was more of an irreflective reaction to being raised under a military dictatorship and then being governed by a left-leaning populist than the result of any deep thought.” (08/19/26)
https://www.econlib.org/econlog/atlas-shrugged-and-interventionism
- The Flock Camera Backlash Is a Very Good Sign
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe“In a year as chaotic, violent, and economically destructive as this one has been, it is interesting that, to many Americans, the great villain of 2026 is turning out to be a traffic camera. But, indeed, we are seeing visceral, cross-partisan opposition to so-called Flock cameras—named after the leading manufacturer of these automated license plate readers—take hold in communities across the country. And that opposition is, to be sure, entirely legitimate.” (08/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/flock-camera-backlash-very-good-sign
- Some Shattering Illusions of Our Declining Empire
Source: The American Conservative
by George D O’Neill Jr.“Now that the lofty 250th-anniversary rhetoric about the greatness of our country has faded, it is time to face the reality of our country’s actual behavior. The U.S. fashions itself as a generous and benevolent world leader enforcing the ‘rules-based order’—a deceptive construct used by globalist elites to bully other countries. The rules are arbitrarily changed to suit the bullies and are regularly fashioned into pretexts for military action against uncooperative nations. In short, it is a hoax, untethered from the principles and ideals of our founders.” (08/19/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/some-shattering-illusions-of-our-declining-empire/
- “Difference, Power & Oppression”: OSU Requires Students to Take Courses on How to “Disrupt” the “Systems of Oppression” in the United States”
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“As many criticize higher education for pursuing indoctrination over education, Oregon State University (OSU) appears to be doubling down on a mandatory woke curriculum. The university is under fire for its mandatory undergraduate courses on ‘Difference, Power & Oppression’ (DPO). Much of the rhetoric on the university’s website reads more like the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) than an institution of higher education. OSU requires all undergraduate students who enrolled after the summer of 2025 to complete two DPO courses as part of its Core Education curriculum, including ‘Difference, Power & Oppression Foundations’ and ‘Difference, Power & Oppression Advanced’. This is all part of what OSU calls a ‘core curriculum’ that teaches students to be ‘adaptive, proactive members’ of society to ‘build a better world’.” (08/19/26)
- The Tragedy of US Debt
Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson“‘Borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry,’ wrote the 16th-century economist William Shakespeare, who went on to advise: ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be.’ Americans, who like to talk about their Christian faith more than study it (‘The wicked person borrows and does not repay, but the righteous one is gracious and giving’) have twice elected the self-proclaimed ‘king of debt,’ an infamous deadbeat and serial bankrupt, as president of the United States, while entrusting the national purse strings to the control of his self-abasing toadies in Congress. That’s going about as well as you would imagine.” (08/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/debt-gdp-interest-rates-trump-republicans/
- The Corporate Virtue Trap
Source: The Daily Economy
by Kimberlee Josephson“Businesses are increasingly judged by ethical scorecards. But when virtue becomes a target, firms learn to optimize the metric — crowding out what actually matters.” (08/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-corporate-virtue-trap/
- Reclaiming Reading
Source: Law & Liberty
by Lee Trepanier“This should be viewed as the single most important goal of formal education.” (08/19/26)
- But global inequality has fallen, is falling and, as far as anyone knows, is going to continue to fall
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“Global inequality of income has been falling this past forty and fifty years. No, it’s not all about China either. The poor countries have been growing faster than the rich countries – inequality is falling. As Branko Milanovic has proven, this is also true if we consider inequality directly between people, not just as national units. This is even true of capital – as Milanovic again has proven, capital incomes are becoming more equally distributed. Agreed, agreed, from a very high level but still, that direction of travel is there. So, we know how to do global inequality reduction. Exactly what we’ve been doing. The Washington Consensus stops poor country governments doing stupid things, globalisation distributes the work and the incomes and, Tadah! global inequality reduces. Great, get really neoliberal on that global economy and Bob’s your parent’s sibling of choice. The usual suspects are demanding that all of this stop of course.” (08/19/26)
- Spain’s Poor Job Market Is Causing an Exodus
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“Quality of life in Spain is among the highest in the world, but that isn’t enough to prevent young Spaniards from seeking careers abroad. The country has always struggled with high unemployment rates, especially among 15–25-year-olds, almost a quarter of whom are currently out of work. As a result, many young Spaniards, especially those with a university education, seek opportunities elsewhere: according to a 2023 survey, more than half of Spanish youth plan or would like to move to a different country. Those who do remain are often wildly overqualified for the jobs available to them.” (08/19/26)
https://fee.org/articles/spains-poor-job-market-is-causing-an-exodus/
- An independent Europe means no more US rooster in the henhouse
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Doug Bandow“Washington will have to get used to transformed international politics where it’s no longer the center of the universe.” (08/19/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-europe-independence/
- Proponents of Solitary Confinement Attempt to Stifle Reform
Source: The American Prospect
by Katie Rose Quandt“When Jerome Wright hears from people incarcerated in New York prisons, they describe a system in crisis. ‘I can tell you, unequivocally, from people in maximum, medium, every type of security they have in there, that the system has devolved into basically a lockdown,’ said Wright, co-director of the HALT Solitary Campaign, who spent more than seven years in solitary confinement in New York prisons. ‘It’s almost like the entire system is in solitary confinement … People are losing their minds, literally. Some people are committing suicide.’ … This should not be the case in New York, where lawmakers in 2021 passed the HALT Act, designed to limit which infractions can be punished with solitary confinement, cap stints in solitary to 15 days (after which people can be moved to special, non-isolation units), and ban certain vulnerable populations from solitary altogether.” (08/19/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/08/19/proponents-of-solitary-confinement-attempt-to-stifle-reform/
- The Real Danger of Russia’s Fake Elections
Source: The Bulwark
by Cathy Young“The anti-war, anti-government sentiment was apparently more than Putin bargained for.” (08/19/26)
- Professors are being squeezed on all sides. The GUARD Act can protect them.
Source: Expression
by Michael Hurley“From 2000 through 2024, FIRE recorded 102 cases of politicians trying to silence faculty. That’s four cases a year on average. Then, in 2025 alone, we recorded 114. That extraordinary spike comes as federal efforts to reform higher education have too often crossed constitutional lines. At the same time, the old threat of censorship by school administrators never faded. This year, South Florida State College fired professor Vinita Prabhakar after its president called a celebrated short story she assigned about an alcoholic teacher ‘political.’ Now Prabhakar, represented by FIRE and FIRE Legal Network member Gary Edinger, is suing the school.” (08/19/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/professors-are-being-squeezed-on
- The GOP’s Fading Economic Advantage
Source: Antiwar.com
by Greg Pence“As the 2026 midterms approach, a nationwide poll released in early August delivered a warning that goes to the heart of the Republican Party’s political identity: for the first time in nearly a decade, voters said Democrats were better stewards of the economy than Republicans. For years, Republicans benefited from a broad perception that they were more trustworthy than Democrats on economic management, even when the record of Republican administrations was contested. … Now that advantage is beginning to crack – not because the U.S. economy is necessarily on the verge of collapse, but because many Americans are judging it less by macroeconomic indicators than by groceries, electricity bills, healthcare and insurance costs, housing, and what remains in their bank accounts at the end of the month. For Donald Trump and the Republican Party, that change in how voters measure economic performance could be costly.” (08/19/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/greg_pence/2026/08/18/the-gops-fading-economic-advantage/
- A Tale of Two Borders: Ceuta and Gibraltar
Source: Independent Institute
by Daniel Sánchez-Piñol“Why did removing border fences in Gibraltar spark no migration crisis, while Ceuta’s fortified perimeter failed?” (08/18/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/08/18/tale-two-borders-ceuta-gibraltar/
- Kibbe on Liberty, episode 400
Source: Free the People
“Socialism Still Kills.” (08/19/26)
- Dave DeCamp on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Dave DeCamp on Palestine, Iran, Somalia and the Risk of an American Nuclear Strike.” (08/19/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/19/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“The Surveillance State Comes to Your Neighborhood: Flock Safety and ALPRs w/ Ed of DeFlock.” (08/19/26)
- Soho Forum Debate: Does Gun Control Make Us Safer?
Source: Reason
“Statistician Aaron Brown and gun policy scholar Robert Spitzer debate the resolution, ‘Until there is convincing evidence that government-imposed gun control brings a net reduction in harm, all legal restrictions on adult possession of guns should be abolished.'” (08/19/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/19/does-gun-control-make-us-safer/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 08/19/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Good Night, Young American.” (08/19/26)
- Rising, 08/19/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signing an executive order to impose strict guidelines on data center construction.” (08/19/26)
- The Fifth Column, episode 571
Source: The Fifth Column
“Clip Roulette w/ Dictators, Demons and Democracy.” (08/19/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/clip-roulette-w-dictators-demons
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 09/19/26
Source: The Dispatch
“Not Losing the Iran War | Interview: Hal Brands.” (09/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/not-losing-the-iran-war-interview-hal-brands/
- Reason Interview: Kurt Andersen
Source: Reason
“Can America Survive Its Political Divide?” (08/19/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/08/19/can-america-survive-its-political-divide/
- Nonzero, 08/18/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The AI Safety Vibe Shift | Robert Wright & David Krueger.” (08/18/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 08/19/26
Source: Washington Post
“What empty pews reveal about America.” (08/19/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/what-empty-pews-reveal-about-america
- Interviews by Claire Lehmann, 08/18/26
Source: Quillette
“‘Economic Vandalism’: Geoff Wilson on Labor’s War on Australian Aspiration.” (08/18/26)
https://quillette.com/2026/08/18/capital-gains-tax-geoff-wilson-on-labors-tax-grab/
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 08/18/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Can Alternative Dispute Resolution be a Real Option for Libertarian Parties?” (08/18/26)
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 08/18/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says No Talks Scheduled With Iran, Israel Massacres Six People in Gaza Strike, and More.” (08/18/26)
- Capital Record, episode 316
Source: National Review
“What Is Wrong with JD Vance?” (08/18/26)
https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/capital-record/what-is-wrong-with-jd-vance/
- Chas Freeman on The Kyle Anzalone Show
Source: Libertarian Institute
“A threat is not a strategy, and it definitely is not a negotiating position. We sit down with Ambassador Chas Freeman to unpack why talk of ‘decapitation,’ demands for compensation, and shifting US red lines do not move Iran toward a deal, they push everything toward attrition and escalation.” (08/18/26)
- Trump Watch, 08/18/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Chaos in Foreign Policy.” (08/18/26)
- Rising, 08/18/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Sen. Jon Ossoff’s recent comments taking a jab at President Trump and his personal aide Natalie Harp.” (08/18/26)
- Remy: Choosin’ Texas (Ella Langley Parody)
Source: Reason
“Remy is two-steppin’ out of California.” (08/18/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/08/18/remy-choosin-texas-ella-langley-parody/
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 08/18/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“It’s my weekly conversation with Eric Peters from Eric Peters Autos. We talk about how to become a human truth-detector in a time when deception rules our world.” (08/18/26)